Raleigh Tops List of Cities With Highest Quality of Life

Quote :

"According to Portfolio.com, Raleigh sits at the top of the list for metropolitan areas with the best quality of life. Raleigh ranked as their #1 city, ousting even much larger locations, with Washington, DC, and Minneapolis-St. Paul coming in at 2nd and 3rd place respectively. The study rated the performance of the 67 largest metro areas in the U.S. in 20 distinct categories. Focusing on finding the most well-rounded cities, the study took into consideration areas with solid economies, reasonable costs of living, a strong housing market, quality educational systems, and light traffic. The statistics used were pulled from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey from 2006-2008. Some of the major reasons that Raleigh topped the list included the recent growth trend (as we reported earlier this year), the influx of new housing developments, the high number of management and professional jobs in the area, in addition to the well-educated population. Other factors that were mentioned were the large percentage of young adults in Raleigh, a relatively low unemployment rate, and the “impressive array of big houses” (who knew all those McMansions would garner us more positive publicity?). Other cities that ranked in the top 10 for the best quality of life include Bridgeport-Stamford, CT; Salt Lake City; Denver; Seattle; Boston; Austin; and San Jose. Three California metro areas hit rock bottom on the list (Riverside-San Bernardino, Fresno, and Bakersfield), accompanied by New Orleans and Memphis. The only other NC city on the list was Charlotte, which ranked in 16th place. Portfolio.com also offers a pretty cool interactive tool that allows you to see how each of the cities fared in each of the categories."

http://www.newraleigh.com/articles/archive/raleigh-tops-list-of-cities-with-highest-quality-of-life/

5/29/2010 7:31:15 PM

[old]

5/29/2010 7:46:24 PM

How come I'm never recognized as part of the region's consistent accolades?

5/29/2010 7:48:06 PM

read, lettersfred

you're 16th

5/29/2010 7:49:27 PM

I know this is like 4 days old but there was no thread about it and I felt it was at least threadworthy

5/29/2010 8:36:07 PM

fuck now more people are gonna move here, Raleigh is about the perfect size for me right now

big enough to have most amenities but without most of the the crowding traffic etc etc etc.

5/29/2010 8:52:07 PM

You can still be a dick to all of the Raleigh n00bs and tell them that you were here when no one even knew what a traffic circle was.

5/29/2010 9:40:49 PM

ITB4LYFE

5/29/2010 9:46:42 PM

^^hahahaha

5/29/2010 9:47:41 PM

haha some of the comments on New Raleigh are A++

Quote :

"Chris 05/25 02:40 PM We must be getting bonus points for the free Downtown Drunk Shuttle Bus."

Quote :

"Downtown Drunk Shuttle Bus 05/25 07:03 PM Glad I could be of service!"

5/29/2010 10:00:35 PM

this makes me want to sell my house and move back to raleigh

5/29/2010 10:23:18 PM

I miss Raleigh.

5/29/2010 10:35:45 PM

too many yankees moving in


the state went democrat in the last election, ffs

[Edited on May 29, 2010 at 10:42 PM. Reason : .]

5/29/2010 10:42:32 PM

Raleigh needs public transportation

5/30/2010 1:35:37 AM

fuck yeah it does

if it gets a monorail I'll move back

5/30/2010 1:47:49 AM

^^ We got the damn drunk bus what more could you need

For real though, I wish Raleigh had trains or something

5/30/2010 1:51:11 AM

I want a 24 hour train system that covers nearly every part of the Triangle

and I am willing to pay up to $90 a month for that service

5/30/2010 1:52:13 AM

come on, Raleigh
this technology is within your reach - hell its one rail easier than trains and you've got (some of) those!

5/30/2010 2:16:24 AM

I'm not sure how much stock I'd put in that list if wash dc was second

5/30/2010 2:18:49 AM

it's probably a list of great cities in which to be wealthy and white

5/30/2010 2:22:42 AM

Raleigh doesn't need trains. If you want that then move to Boston, NYC, Chicago, or DC. I was just in Boston for a week and am glad I am back in Raleigh. It sucks having to wait for buses and trains because of the bad traffic and lack of parking by the hotel. They also have too many interstates running through town. I live in the suburbs. I would have to get in my car or take a taxi to go to the station. On top of that, Boston shuts down the T at 12:30 am. A lot of good that does when the bars are open till 2:00 am. Raleigh has 2 parking decks and a pay lot near Moore Square along with another parking deck near Glenwood South. Plus we have Taxi service. That is all we really need.

5/30/2010 2:30:40 AM

more like the highest quality of weed amirite

5/30/2010 2:31:38 AM

^^ I'm not even sure I understand what the argument you're making is.

5/30/2010 2:34:38 AM

Big4Country, I currently live in NYC and I absolutely love the train

traffic in Boston is notoriously messy so I think that's a bad example
also traffic wouldn't slow down your TRAIN commute so think about that one

why would you have to take a cab or your car to and from the train station?
what if you lived close enough to walk (or at least bike) to the station?
lack of parking doesn't matter when you don't have a vehicle to park!

I live within 2 blocks of two different stations and I can go almost anywhere without a car, including to any other metropolitan area in the northeast corridor, for minimal expense

5/30/2010 2:40:27 AM

Yep, I haven't had to own a car in four years thanks to the trains. I'll miss that when I'm back in Raleigh.

5/30/2010 2:41:39 AM

^^^My point is we don't have the need for it. Living in Boston and having to rely on the train sort of sucks. We had to wait 15+ minutes for the bus. I like being able to leave for work when I feel like it and not having to wait for 15 minutes for my transportation to arrive. We don't need the train. There is all of this hype about getting a train in Raleigh, but a lot of people actually live in the suburbs and a good distance from their job. Highway 70/I-40 is the best way to get from Clayton to RTP, or Raleigh, not a train. Traffic at rush hour isn't that bad in Raleigh. The big cities with trains are just different from places like Raleigh.

5/30/2010 3:11:28 AM

the bus and the train are different things
I hate riding the bus unless its from one city to another

how long do you think Raleigh is going to stay small?

Raleigh is different from larger cities with widely used public transport in that the average citizen consumes way less energy

don't you want to live in a forward-looking city that sets the standard for everyone else?

5/30/2010 3:15:46 AM

ITT, Big4Country shows that foresight is not his forte.

5/30/2010 7:30:27 AM

^ That's the problem with vision, it takes 30 years to see whose got it ....

5/30/2010 8:43:33 AM

Or they could focus on getting I-540 finished. Subdivisions continue to pop up out in the country in the triangle area. The interstate highway system is more important than a train in Raleigh.

5/30/2010 10:53:52 AM

540 won't really solve much as it's only going out East whereas RTP is West. Raleigh has been discussing a monorail for at least 10 years, I'd love to see one that goes from Wakefield to RTP and one that goes from like Wakefield to Downtown or something like that to cut down on all the commuting traffic. Also, lanes like in Chicago that open up going to the city in the morning, and swing the other way to allow more lanes to leave the city in the afternoon would alleviate traffic

5/30/2010 3:15:29 PM

More like the highest quality of TWWers.

5/30/2010 3:17:22 PM

Quote :

"wakefield"

...

lol.

5/30/2010 5:23:15 PM

Quote :

"Or they could focus on getting I-540 finished. Subdivisions continue to pop up out in the country in the triangle area. The interstate highway system is more important than a train in Raleigh."

Big cities invest in mass transportation. They do so because its cost effective and serves the public good. Your interpretation merely encourages more sprawl.

5/30/2010 5:31:33 PM

So much of this shit goes around these days, there's like a new list every other week. The first few times I thought it was something, now I know it's BS.

5/30/2010 6:21:25 PM

Quote :

"wait for 15 minutes for my transportation to arrive"

15 whole minutes? holy shit. you poor fucking thing. what happened after that? did you get on the bus and go to your destination? did you travel cheaply from point A to point B without adding to the congestion of the road? did you get to your destination without having to spend time looking for a parking spot?

if raleigh continues with its path of massive suburban sprawl without any indication of urbanizing, it will quickly fall off that list. everyone will be too busy sitting in traffic for 15+ minutes and won't have the time to boast about how great 540 is.

[Edited on May 30, 2010 at 6:34 PM. Reason : ]

5/30/2010 6:25:56 PM

Yeah the Triangle atleast needs a 24 hour monorail system or atleast Amtrak stops in Raliegh, Durham, Chapel hill that run from like 6am-midnight!!

5/30/2010 6:45:19 PM

A 24-hour monorail would be silly. It only needs to run from about 5am - 3am with two hours off-time for maintenance or whatever.

Quote :

"Also, lanes like in Chicago that open up going to the city in the morning, and swing the other way to allow more lanes to leave the city in the afternoon would alleviate traffic"

They have this in DC as well. It's nice but hopefully we have some reliable public transportation before we need to implement something like that.

5/30/2010 8:23:20 PM

Quote :

"The first few times I thought it was something, now I know it's BS."

A lot of it involves having an excellent PR firm (look at Empire Eats and their presence on lists like these and Food Network shows), but it's not all BS.

5/30/2010 8:29:09 PM

Quote :

"Only two sandwiches girls make worthy sandwiches at the Subway near me."

5/31/2010 8:59:32 AM